Chapter 87

Chapter 87. Anchio (1)

Balun hurried over, checked the three men who had been smashed aside, and let out a sigh of relief. They were wriggling and moving, so fortunately, it seemed they were not dead.

If they had died, how troublesome would that have been? But since they were not dead, it seemed he could at least settle the matter somehow.

“How dare you attack us, the subordinates of Baron Anchio!”

“It was not intentional. Truly.”

Even while receiving the sharp glares of the suspicious men all at once, Balun did not get angry. He only scratched his head awkwardly.

Because he truly felt sorry.

“Shut up! You must have attacked us on purpose. Hmm, this will not do. You must pay an extra toll.”

“Understood. I will pay.”

When Balun obediently nodded, the suspicious men were the ones who were taken aback. They had not expected him to agree so readily.

After all, just from his build, he clearly looked like he could fight well. He also did not look like someone who would cooperate at all.

“How much should I pay?”

“You even attacked us, the subordinates of Baron Anchio, so you must pay four times the toll!”

“So I am asking how much that four times is.”

“Twenty gold coins! Hand over twenty coins!”

“What?”

‘Oh, that is cheap for compensation, is it not?’

Of course, it was a very large sum, but considering he had caused a traffic accident involving three people, it seemed like a cheap settlement fee.

Besides, Balun had thousands of gold on him.

However, the suspicious men could not even dream of knowing what Balun was thinking, and they smiled triumphantly.

“Hmph! Crying, begging, and pleading will be useless! It must be twenty gold coins! If you do not pay, you know what will happen, do you not? Consider your life forfeit—”

“Understood. I will pay.”

“Huh? You will pay?”

“Yes.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Balun took out his Subspace Pouch and began rummaging around for forty gold coins. The suspicious men’s eyes wavered when they saw it.

Gulp.

Soon, greed glimmered in their eyes.

“Here. I doubled it because I feel sorry. Use the remaining twenty gold for treatment.”

“Uh.”

“Are you not taking it?”

“G-Give us more! Now that I think about it, this is not enough! Fifty! You must give us fifty gold coins before we let you pass!”

Balun clicked his tongue. Why were they so greedy?

However, Balun’s heart was in an extremely generous state at the moment. Since he also felt sorry, Balun readily nodded and took out another ten gold.

“Here. This should be enough to pay your baron’s toll and treat your comrades.”

Balun forced the money into their hands, then smiled with satisfaction. He felt good, as if he had done a kind deed for no reason.

‘Am I being too generous?’

Of course, he had run into people, but honestly, he did not think this was solely his fault.

No, why were they occupying the road in the first place?

“Is that enough? May I go now?”

“That pouch! Hand it over! Then we will let you go safely!”

Balun’s eyebrow twitched. That crossed the line, you people.

“That will not do.”

“You bastard! Then we will have to see blood.”

“You are too greedy. If you are that greedy, your belly will burst and you will die.”

“What did you say?”

“Are you going to attack? Then attack if you want.”

Balun murmured in a low voice. The suspicious men flinched.

But only for a moment. Soon, their faces turned red, and they thrust out their swords.

“You arrogant bastard……! Strike him down!”

The suspicious men charged in.

Balun lightly gave them a beating with his fists.

“P-Please spare me!”

“Does something not seem strange? You tried to kill me, yet you are asking me to spare you.”

“I am sorry! Our eyes were blinded by greed, and we…… Kuh!”

The suspicious man shed tears. Balun sighed and shook his head.

“Fine. I will spare you.”

“Truly?”

“If you obediently answer what I ask.”

“Yes! Ask me anything! I will tell you everything I know!”

The suspicious man answered every one of Balun’s questions. Even though there were quite a lot of them.

It seemed he truly did not want to die.

“So you were soldiers under Baron Anchio, but you deserted and hid in the mountains?”

“Th-That is similar, but it is different. We did not desert. We were not soldiers in the first place. We were unjustly conscripted.”

“That means you were soldiers. If your lord conscripted you, then you were soldiers. Am I wrong?”

“Uh, well……”

Deserters who had been under Baron Anchio, the lord of this area. That was their true identity.

They had resented Baron Anchio’s large-scale conscription order, stolen uniforms and Baron Anchio’s tokens, and fled. After that, they became a band of thieves who made money by pretending to be a noble’s subordinates and collecting tolls like this.

Looking at them kneeling, Balun rubbed his chin. Even though they had turned out to be thieves, he did not think they were particularly hateful. He only thought they were unlucky.

If they had not been greedy, they could have received fifty-five gold and let him pass quietly, but because of needless greed, they had failed to receive the money they could have gotten and only ended up getting beaten.

“It seems this area is land ruled by Baron Anchio.”

“It is close, yes. Heh heh.”

“Can we get there today?”

“Pardon? Ah. If we go diligently, I think we could barely arrive before sunset, but……”

After hearing that, Balun grinned.

‘Perfect. I will sleep there tonight.’

Since it was in the same direction as the way he was going anyway, it would not delay him either.

“Good. Guide me there.”

“Pardon? We cannot do that!”

The thieves jumped in fright.

“Please, anything but that…… There is a wanted notice out for us, so if we go that way, we will die!”

“A wanted notice?”

Balun’s eyes gleamed.

“Yes. So please……”

The thieves grabbed Balun’s trouser legs and pleaded. Balun firmly shook his head.

“Then that makes it all the more reason to go there.”

“Pardon?”

“If I hand you over, I should be able to receive a nice sum from Baron Anchio. Is that not right?”

“Uh, well……”

“Guide me. Will you guide me after being beaten, or will you guide me as you are?”

“We will guide you. We will guide you, damn it. Kuh!”

“Stay still. I have to tie you up first.”

The thieves numbered sixteen in total.

After tying them up tightly with rope, Balun entrusted them with guiding him.

“You know what will happen if you lead me in some other direction, right? I will split all your heads open.”

“Yes! Of course, sir!”

“You had better think carefully. If you are locked in prison, you will at least live, but if I catch you, you die now.”

Perhaps because they were frightened by Balun’s continuing threats, they guided him properly.

“That is it. That is Anchio, ruled by Baron Anchio.”

“Is the city called Anchio because of Baron Anchio?”

“Pardon? Ah, I think it is the family name.”

“How lazy. Even the name was made roughly.”

Anchio was a common small city. On the outskirts, fields and wooden buildings were sparsely scattered, while in the center, there were many stone buildings and a city wall. It was that kind of peaceful small city.

‘Hmm, it does not look very peaceful.’

Balun’s gaze swept across the city.

Flames consuming private homes and rising smoke, knights and soldiers tangled everywhere, rear-line mages scattering mana, and even people fleeing while screaming.

“Hey, you thieves. This place is in chaos. Are you sure this is Anchio?”

“It is definitely Anchio!”

“Then why is it like this? Did you not say it was peaceful?”

“It originally was…… I do not know! What in the world happened?”

Balun scratched his head in difficulty. He had planned to stay in this city for a night and earn a nice bit of pocket money, but it seemed that plan had gone wrong.

‘Should I just turn back? It is bothersome to get involved for no reason.’

He did not care if he gave up the pocket money. As for these thieves, he could simply kill them without any issue.

“Hey. Is there another village besides this place?”

“There is not. You would have to go much farther.”

“What rotten luck.”

Balun clicked his tongue. At this rate, he would have no choice but to camp outdoors.

‘Whatever. I will just camp.’

Just as he made up his mind and was about to turn his horse around, a piercing shout rang out.

“There are some over there too!”

“Huh?”

He looked in the direction of the voice. Soldiers wearing helmets and armor and holding spears were pointing at him.

Some of them were carrying flags.

‘What flag is that?’

“W-Wait. Why is that here……!”

The thieves were shocked when they saw the soldiers.

“Do you know what that flag is?”

“It is the emblem of the Kingdom of Croa! There is no mistake!”

“What?”

Balun could not hide his disbelief.

The Kingdom of Croa was Balun’s destination.

Did that mean they had invaded?

Not Valtrien?

‘Why?’

“It is a Corint bastard! Kill that one too!”

“Yes, sir!”

The moment they saw Balun, the soldiers shouted loudly and charged.

“Mercenary, sir! They are coming! You have to avoid them!”

Even at the thieves’ urgent words, Balun only stared blankly.

Soon, he let out a sigh and muttered one sentence.

“It feels like I am having some ridiculous nightmare.”

Shaking his head, Balun got down from his horse.

He did not know what was going on, but it looked difficult to avoid them.

“Blackie. Go far away. Come when I call you.”

NEIGH!

Blackie understood cleverly and walked away into the distance.

As the thieves watched Balun meticulously check his axe, dagger, ropes, and other things, they asked with uneasy eyes,

“Mercenary, sir? Why are you getting down from your horse?”

“I do not know how to fight on horseback.”

“Pardon?”

“You lot should avoid this for now. Do not run away, though. If you run, you know what happens, right? I will chase you to hell.”

“Uh, we will do that, but please untie these ropes first. Do not just go like that. Mercenary, sir! Mercenary, sir!”

Their voices did not reach Balun.

That was because Balun had already charged into the battlefield swallowed by flames.

***

Balun knocked down the five soldiers charging toward him in an instant.

However, he did not kill them. He had a reason not to.

Balun grabbed one of the soldiers he had knocked down by the collar and asked. Since the surroundings were so loud, he nearly had to shout.

“Are you soldiers of the Kingdom of Croa?”

“Kuh, k-kill me.”

“I asked whether you are soldiers of the Kingdom of Croa.”

“Yes. Why ask when you already know? Just kill me already!”

The soldier’s resolve was quite impressive. As the soldier closed his eyes and prepared to die, Balun shook his head.

“No. I will not kill you.”

“What?”

“I am not your enemy. I am on the same side as you. I was on my way to the Kingdom of Croa.”

At Balun’s serious mutter, the soldier shouted with bewildered eyes, “What nonsense is that?”

“And think carefully. I just arrived in this city. I have no connection to any of you. That means I am not your enemy. Am I wrong?”

“What nonsense! Every Corint bastard deserves to die!”

The soldier snarled.

Balun scratched his head awkwardly. It seemed they could not communicate.

Now that he thought about it, it was a kind of logic that would not work.

In such an urgent situation, who would listen to anything?

“Now, look at me.”

Balun pounded his own chest.

“I am a Barbarian. There is no way a Barbarian like me would be a person of Corint, is there?”

“Shut up. What does it matter if you are a Barbarian? You have sided with the Kingdom of Corint, so you are no different from a Corint man!”

Balun was left speechless. What kind of logic was that?

“Who is your leader? Guide me. I will talk to your leader, not you.”

“Are you telling me to betray my side? I will never do that.”

The soldier’s eyes were resolute. Balun shook his head. This was not someone words would work on.

“Then just die.”

He gave up on persuasion.

Balun’s axe struck the soldier’s neck. The soldier’s head flew into the air, scattering blood. With that single swing of the axe, the attention of the surrounding soldiers all turned to Balun at once.

Among them, a knight who looked like a commander pointed at Balun and asked,

“What is that?”

“Yes, sir. He appears to be a mercenary hired by the local lord!”

“He looks like a Barbarian……. He seems rather strong.”

“Indeed, sir. What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? Seize him at once.”

“Yes, sir!”

The order fell, and with a thunderous shout, the soldiers raised their spears and charged. In the rear, archers stood ready with their bowstrings drawn.

Around them were knights slaughtering people with dazzling footwork.

And behind them, there were even mages in robes.

He could see the mages gripping their staffs and chanting spells. A distinct mana could be felt from the tips of their staffs.

Taking in that entire sight at a glance, Balun could not help but let out a hollow laugh.

So.

Those soldiers, those knights, and those mages were all people who had invaded from the Kingdom of Croa?

‘Wow. Look at this timing. My luck really is disgustingly rotten.’